making news in america this morning -- >> the u.s. is transferring command of the operation against moammar gadhafi's force in libya, just as the mission gains more arab support. safety concerns about the nation's air traffic control system after one controller admits to sleeping on the job. and the champion dethroned. duke is dominated by arizona, as the march madness sweet 16 gets into high gear. and good morning, everyone. thanks for being with us today. there is a major change in command in enforcing that no-fly zone over libya. nato has agreed to take charge,

now, of those operations. >> and the changeover from u.s. hands could take place as early as tomorrow. emily schmidt is joining us now from washington with the latest details. good morning, emily. >> reporter: rob and peggy, good morning to you. the u.s. has been cutting back on its role in this no-fly zone enforcement. in fact, just yesterday, the pentagon said 75% of the combat air missions are now flown by the coalition partners. soon, this transition is going to be official. the no-fly zone over libya that has international support is now getting international enforcement. >> nato allies have now decided to enforce the no-fly zone over libya. >> reporter: the announcement made late yesterday, means the u.s. plans to hand over command and control of the no-fly zone by this weekend. and even the united arab emirates is now on board, sending 12 planes to join the coalition. >> we welcome this important step. it underscores both the breadth of this international coalition and the depth of concern in the region for the plight of the libyan people. >> reporter: the nato announcement comes as some in

congress call upon the obama administration to define the u.s. mission in libya. but in an abc news exclusive, the "operation odyssey dawn" commander said the for debate to take action. >> i don't think you can stand by and have that debate while he's killing his own people. by that point, it may have become a moot point. >> reporter: just yesterday, gadhafi sent up an aircraft into the no-fly zone. it was shot down. coalition members say the u.n. resolution has made a difference. >> look at what had been avoided. thousands of lives have been saved. >> reporter: the u.n. secretary-general says libyan government officials and rebels are going to meet today in ethiopia to discuss a cease-fire. while offering there's no evidence that gadhafi has accepted a cease-fire up to this point. rob and peggy? >> our emily schmidt, reporting this morning from washington. thanks, emily. and we're hearing from the

pilots, now, who rescued that f-15 crew that had to bail out over the libyan desert. the marine pilots told their story for the first time to our martha raddatz, onboard their ship. >> they talked about exactly what happened as soon as they got into that area. >> we saw his flare on the ground. and we got eyes on his position. and an airplane way up overhead, at about 25,000 feet, was able to shine a laser down. >> as soon as we set up for our approach to land, he just started bolting to the airport. so, i think he said he as in as iloud by the time we landed. >> he also said the successful rescue was probably the coolest thing he's done since joining the marines. now, to the grim news from japan, two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami hit. the number of confirmed dead has passed 10,000. officials suspect that the reactor core at one of the troubled fukushima power plants may have been breached. >> that raises the possibility

that more radiation may have been released into the environment. meanwhile, some u.s. marines are now helping in the cleanup efforts in the hard-hit city of sendai. they even had to use bulldozers to shift damaged cars at the airport. and also, one more note from japan, on the pace of the rebuilding there. check out this section of the highway in a photo taken on march 17th. it was ripped apart by the quake as you can see. but let's take a look at the same stretch of road only six days later. it looks good as new and also open to traffic. pretty incredible. >> progress is progress. more money is being raised here at home for victims of the tragedy in japan. hundreds of people walked among the trees last night, ahead of the annual cherry blossom festival. it was a fund-raising vigil for survivors. the cherry blossom tradition began way back in 1912, with a gift of trees from japan, symbolizing its friendship with the u.s. a magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck the southeast asian nation of myanmar last night. it sent people in thailand

running for their lives and caused minor damage to many buildings. homes and one bridge were damaged in several villages across the entire region. more than 60 people were killed near the quake's epicenter, which was myanmar. back here at home, fast-moving flames southeast of denver forced nearly 10,000 people to evacuate last night. the fire quickly consumed trees, grass and brush, charring 2 1/2-square miles. several homes were threatened. but so far, none have been damaged. an earlier fire west of denver blackened nearly three-square miles of a wooded area. and along south carolina's coast, windy conditions are fueling a wildfire that's already consumed nearly 3,000 acres. the smoke was so thick, most major roadways had to be shut down temporarily. fire crews say it's about 85% contained now. and the wind is expected to die down later today. the record rainfall pounding the northern half of california will continue through most of the weekend.

downpours and high winds have been triggering mudslides and toppling trees, such as this one that came crashing down on a house in santa cruz. another two inches of rain are expected today. >> rough winter continues, even though it's spring. >> i know. now, for this weather for the rest of the country on this friday morning. that rain stretches into portland and seattle. up to two feet of snow in the northern california mountains. and 6 to 12 inches in the rockies. showers and thunderstorms with a chance of hail from north texas to missouri. >> and looking at 46 in kansas city. and 30s from fargo to detroit. 40s in boston and in new york. 84 in miami. phoenix gets up to 75. seattle, 52. and billings, 41. after spending most of her life, of course, in the public eye, elizabeth taylor has been laid to rest with the utmost privacy. >> in fact, only about 40 relatives gathered at forest lawn cemetery near los angeles. that's where michael jackson is also buried. taylor's casket was reportedly draped in gar dinas, violets and lilies of the valley.

she wanted to be fashionably late to her ownral. so, she arrived 15 minutes after the start time. >> even in the funeral. i want to be 15 minutes late. >> whatever she likes is fine with us. coming up next, toyota gets ready to crank up production post-catastrophe. that's straight ahead in your business news. and new technology to help our seriously wounded soldiers. it's bionic and they say it's showing a lot of promise.

and time for a check of

market activities, starting overseas now. tokyo's nikkei average rose more than 100 points today. hong kong's hang seng also posted a gain. and in london, the ftse opened higher. wall street starts the day with the dow jones industrial average still above 1200, after good news on earnings and jobs. the nasdaq index was up 38 points. toyota has started its day with production in japan. the world's top automaker says production will resume on monday. however, other toyota plants in japan will remain shut down at least through next week. and nissan, thinking of producing some of the eng its japanese its japanese madles in tennessee. it's having trouble at its japanese factories with rolling blackouts. the nation's central bank is becoming a little more open. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke now will hold regularly scheduled news conferences. there will be four of them every

year. it's all a response to criticism that the fed is simply too secretive. the first briefing is set for a month from now. and your saturday mail delivery will be safe for now. a government panel says that cutting back would not save nearly as much as the postal service thinks. but it would slow the delivery of one in four letters. by the way, tuesday is actually , after all. day for mail not saturday, after all. >> postal trivia. when we come back on this friday morning, your march madness sweet 16 highlights. who is going on? and who is packing up for home? first, sorting out that sleeping air traffic controller. and taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. 3 o'clock. my daily meeting with a salty snack and then a 3:15, with my guilt. [ female announcer ] new special k cracker chips. 27 crispy chips. 110 delicious calories. mmmmmmm...good meeting. same time tomorrow? [ female announcer ] find them in the cracker aisle. i see a bag and think... i could have a chip.

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jets on approach tried to contact him. the ntsb confirmed he had worked his fourth-consecutive overnight shift. adding, quote, human fatigue is one of the areas being investigated. but it's happened before. in 2009, one controller locked himself out ngngof same tower for 15 minutes, leaving the tower unmanned. transportation secretary ray lahood, described as furious, have two faa controllers going forward. but there are 30 airports around the country that at times have only 1 controller on duty. the faa wouldn't identify them. but we learned one was richmond, virginia. if you make an immediate decision to add a second controller here, why not do the same at those 29 other airports around the country? >> well, in is critical air space. >> reporter: bob richards who worked 22 years as a controller

at chicago's o'hare airport, told us two controllers should be the bare minimum anywhere. >> common sense, basically. you need two controllers to do two things. one controller would be working on an emergency flight that's something a problem. and the other person would be there to coordinate the emergency equipment. coordinate with the airlines. >> reporter: fatigue and staffing have long plagued air traffic controllers. the ntsb put fatigue on its most-wanted safety list. they said it's not just a nice thing. a necessary thing and a priority. something that needs to be changed. >> professionalism would dictate that someone not fit to work to tell us they're not fit to work. >> reporter: the faa is reviewing staffing at the airports from sacramento, to san diego to tucson. they won't say how quickly or how many will be changed. jim sciutto, abc news, at reagan national airport, in washington. >> scary thought for travelers. >> oh, boy. unbelievable. it could soon be a major advancement for amputees that

suffered leg injuries. a bionic foot is being road tested by patients at walter reed medical center in washington. >> the prosthesis is cutting-edge, because it works pretty much on its own. a motor inside the foot helps patients. >> with this, you have, as you're going through your gait, it has a push off your heel. it throws your leg forwar in which, in turn, throws your body forward. or gives your body forward momentum. >> leonard says it will enable him to do things like walk around the mall with his wife or go grocery shopping and run errands for his family. in las vegas, a woman went wild in a courtroom, after finding out she was headed back to jail. >> let me go. i got kids and responsibilities. [ bleep ] y'all. let me go. no. let me -- let me -- let me go. >> it took three officers to subdue that woman. but not before one of them was

injured in that scuffle. the woman is accused of endangering two children at an apartment complex. she was in court for her competency hearing. and at milwaukee's airport, a struck tried to squeeze under an overhang. it got stuck. and it stayed that way for about two hours, snarling traffic and creating a good bit of chaos. good news, though, is there appears to be no structural damage. the driver, however, was slappe8 with a $178 ticket. are you watching these games? the march madness sweet 16 is halfway done. there's four more games tonight. last night's best action now from will selva at espn news. >> good morning. another top seed goes down in the ncaa tournament. a rematch in the 2001 national championships. duke and arizona. wildcats down three. derrick williams, dropping the hammer. he had 25 points in the first half. arizona down six at the half. duke down nine.

brendan lavender, the thievery. arizona goes up 11. williams, just putting on a show. he had a career-high 32. look how high he gets up. a pogo stick. arizona running away with it. jamelle thorn, down low. gathers it in. he's going to punctuate this win as arizona wins anded a >> vince:s to the elitet. eight. jimmer fredette and byu taking on florida. fredette, from well beyond the three-point line. from jimmer territory, if you will. he finished with 32 points. look at him. focused. game tied at 63-63. seven seconds to go. barton drives. nope. that means bonus basketball. we go to overtime. irving walker, kicking it out to parsons. he knows exactly what to do with it. 16 points and 9 rebounds. gators up seven.

just over a minute to go. titus, 19 of 17 for him. and that's all for jimmer. the gators advance to the elite eight, 83-74. that will do it for this update. i'm will selva. >> i'm not losing sleep over that loss. now, to a joyous family reunion. three sisters are back together again, decades after they were torn apart. >> joyce miller got to hug her little sister for the first time since she was adopted and separated from the family at age 5. another sister was also there for the reunion. >> miller just found her last year. and they only live minutes from each other in kansas city. >> what? >> the sisters are still looking, though, for a long, lost brother. >> that's crazy. just down the road. coming up next, the stories we'll be following later today, including the latest from the nuclear crisis from japan. developments on that overnight. and a suspect also in custody, charged with a bomb

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have been breached, releasing even more radiation into the environment. a michigan man charged with placing an explosive outside a federal building in detroit appears in court today. the fbi says that gary mccullough has a history of threatening to harm federal agents. broadway will honor elizabeth taylor tonight, dimming the lights for one minute. she appeared on broadway in "the little foxes" in 1981, and "private lives." the megamillions jackpot is up tonight. nobody has won it at all in the last 14 drawings. that pushes the kitty to at least $312 million. >> fingers crossed. and the march madness sweet 16 resumes tonight with top seed ohio state and kansas, as well as cinderella virginia commonwealth university, all taking the hardwood. >> we'll be watching those, for sure. coming up on "good morning america," the beauty queen who went to court to win back her crown and won.

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next. fallout in the bay area as the rain keeps falling from the sky. and days and weeks it will take to clean up. reports of mudslides damaging homes and we'll have storm watch. lisa argen tracks the rain. >> we have more rain for us and even stronger storms head our way tomorrow. >> kristen: join u well, finally this morning, they may just play one on tv. but abc's "modern family," is hitting home in real life.

>> new census figures are revealing a fascinating snapshot on the changing face of america. we get more, now, from abc's john berman. >> reporter: what is the image of the modern family? according to brand-new data from the census, the modern family is, in fact, "modern family." especially gloria. >> jay? jay? jay? >> reporter: born in colombia. hispanics accounted for more than half of the u.s. population growth over the last decade.

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